Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
  • G01C—MEASURING DISTANCES, LEVELS OR BEARINGS; SURVEYING; NAVIGATION; GYROSCOPIC INSTRUMENTS; PHOTOGRAMMETRY OR VIDEOGRAMMETRY
  • G01C11/00—Photogrammetry or videogrammetry, e.g. stereogrammetry; Photographic surveying
  • G01C11/02—Picture taking arrangements specially adapted for photogrammetry or photographic surveying, e.g. controlling overlapping of pictures
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
  • G01S—RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
  • G01S3/00—Direction-finders for determining the direction from which infrasonic, sonic, ultrasonic, or electromagnetic waves, or particle emission, not having a directional significance, are being received
  • G01S3/78—Direction-finders for determining the direction from which infrasonic, sonic, ultrasonic, or electromagnetic waves, or particle emission, not having a directional significance, are being received using electromagnetic waves other than radio waves
  • G01S3/782—Systems for determining direction or deviation from predetermined direction
  • G01S3/785—Systems for determining direction or deviation from predetermined direction using adjustment of orientation of directivity characteristics of a detector or detector system to give a desired condition of signal derived from that detector or detector system
  • G01S3/786—Systems for determining direction or deviation from predetermined direction using adjustment of orientation of directivity characteristics of a detector or detector system to give a desired condition of signal derived from that detector or detector system the desired condition being maintained automatically
  • G01S3/7864—T.V. type tracking systems
• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F41—WEAPONS
  • F41G—WEAPON SIGHTS; AIMING
  • F41G5/00—Elevating or traversing control systems for guns
  • F41G5/14—Elevating or traversing control systems for guns for vehicle-borne guns
• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F41—WEAPONS
  • F41G—WEAPON SIGHTS; AIMING
  • F41G7/00—Direction control systems for self-propelled missiles
  • F41G7/20—Direction control systems for self-propelled missiles based on continuous observation of target position
  • F41G7/22—Homing guidance systems
  • F41G7/2213—Homing guidance systems maintaining the axis of an orientable seeking head pointed at the target, e.g. target seeking gyro
• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F41—WEAPONS
  • F41G—WEAPON SIGHTS; AIMING
  • F41G7/00—Direction control systems for self-propelled missiles
  • F41G7/20—Direction control systems for self-propelled missiles based on continuous observation of target position
  • F41G7/22—Homing guidance systems
  • F41G7/2253—Passive homing systems, i.e. comprising a receiver and do not requiring an active illumination of the target
• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F41—WEAPONS
  • F41G—WEAPON SIGHTS; AIMING
  • F41G7/00—Direction control systems for self-propelled missiles
  • F41G7/20—Direction control systems for self-propelled missiles based on continuous observation of target position
  • F41G7/22—Homing guidance systems
  • F41G7/2273—Homing guidance systems characterised by the type of waves
  • F41G7/2293—Homing guidance systems characterised by the type of waves using electromagnetic waves other than radio waves
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
  • G01C—MEASURING DISTANCES, LEVELS OR BEARINGS; SURVEYING; NAVIGATION; GYROSCOPIC INSTRUMENTS; PHOTOGRAMMETRY OR VIDEOGRAMMETRY
  • G01C11/00—Photogrammetry or videogrammetry, e.g. stereogrammetry; Photographic surveying
  • G01C11/02—Picture taking arrangements specially adapted for photogrammetry or photographic surveying, e.g. controlling overlapping of pictures
  • G01C11/025—Picture taking arrangements specially adapted for photogrammetry or photographic surveying, e.g. controlling overlapping of pictures by scanning the object
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
  • G01C—MEASURING DISTANCES, LEVELS OR BEARINGS; SURVEYING; NAVIGATION; GYROSCOPIC INSTRUMENTS; PHOTOGRAMMETRY OR VIDEOGRAMMETRY
  • G01C21/00—Navigation; Navigational instruments not provided for in groups G01C1/00 - G01C19/00
  • G01C21/005—Navigation; Navigational instruments not provided for in groups G01C1/00 - G01C19/00 with correlation of navigation data from several sources, e.g. map or contour matching
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
  • G01C—MEASURING DISTANCES, LEVELS OR BEARINGS; SURVEYING; NAVIGATION; GYROSCOPIC INSTRUMENTS; PHOTOGRAMMETRY OR VIDEOGRAMMETRY
  • G01C21/00—Navigation; Navigational instruments not provided for in groups G01C1/00 - G01C19/00
  • G01C21/10—Navigation; Navigational instruments not provided for in groups G01C1/00 - G01C19/00 by using measurements of speed or acceleration
  • G01C21/12—Navigation; Navigational instruments not provided for in groups G01C1/00 - G01C19/00 by using measurements of speed or acceleration executed aboard the object being navigated; Dead reckoning
  • G01C21/16—Navigation; Navigational instruments not provided for in groups G01C1/00 - G01C19/00 by using measurements of speed or acceleration executed aboard the object being navigated; Dead reckoning by integrating acceleration or speed, i.e. inertial navigation
  • G01C21/165—Navigation; Navigational instruments not provided for in groups G01C1/00 - G01C19/00 by using measurements of speed or acceleration executed aboard the object being navigated; Dead reckoning by integrating acceleration or speed, i.e. inertial navigation combined with non-inertial navigation instruments
  • G01C21/1656—Navigation; Navigational instruments not provided for in groups G01C1/00 - G01C19/00 by using measurements of speed or acceleration executed aboard the object being navigated; Dead reckoning by integrating acceleration or speed, i.e. inertial navigation combined with non-inertial navigation instruments with passive imaging devices, e.g. cameras
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
  • G01S—RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
  • G01S3/00—Direction-finders for determining the direction from which infrasonic, sonic, ultrasonic, or electromagnetic waves, or particle emission, not having a directional significance, are being received
  • G01S3/78—Direction-finders for determining the direction from which infrasonic, sonic, ultrasonic, or electromagnetic waves, or particle emission, not having a directional significance, are being received using electromagnetic waves other than radio waves
  • G01S3/782—Systems for determining direction or deviation from predetermined direction
  • G01S3/785—Systems for determining direction or deviation from predetermined direction using adjustment of orientation of directivity characteristics of a detector or detector system to give a desired condition of signal derived from that detector or detector system
  • G01S3/786—Systems for determining direction or deviation from predetermined direction using adjustment of orientation of directivity characteristics of a detector or detector system to give a desired condition of signal derived from that detector or detector system the desired condition being maintained automatically

Definitions

• the present invention relates to an airborne
• sensors such as UV, visible, IR, multi/hyper-spectral, or active illumination
• the sensors and INS are preferably mounted on the
• Airborne reconnaissance systems are generally used to obtain images of hostile
• the camera shutter for the purpose of exposure is equivalent to the
• image capturing will be referred to as “electronic capturing” in contrast to
• the scanning of the imaged area is obtained by the
• sensing vector is positioned on gimbals having one degree of freedom
• Another Across-Track Scanning configuration uses a moving mirror or
• FMC field compensation
• a cell being a
• the system scans the entire area to which the camera is directed,- with
• 6,256,057 is their limited ability to capture images in a wide range of a field
• field of regard refers to the spatial section
• the present invention provides to the aircraft the ability
• the present invention enables usage of small
• sized array would typically be up to 1 megapixels (million pixels), and a
• medium-sized array would typically be up to 5 megapixels.
• large-sized array would typically be up to 5 megapixels.
• the senor In some cases, the sensor must be oriented
• correlation accuracy is limited by smearing of the first two images when
• V/R means a shift of 277 pixels in the image. Moreover, since the value of V/R is not
• the present invention relates to an airborne reconnaissance system which
• Inertial Navigation System for real-time providing to a gimbals control unit
• Portion selection unit for selecting, one at a time, another
• Servo control unit for: A. Receiving from said Digital Elevation Map one at a time, a
• gimbals including said LOS of at least one array of light-sensing
• Samphng means for simultaneously sampling at the end of the integration
• said one or more arrays are selected from at least a visual light-
• multi/hyper-spectral array and an active illumination array.
• said navigation data of the aircraft comprises data relating to the
• said Inertial Navigation System comprises velocity, acceleration,
• At least some of said arrays of sensors are positioned on the gimbals.
• the system uses two Inertial Navigation Systems, the first inertial
• the Digital Elevation Map is a map comprising a grid of the area of
• the portion selecting unit is used for calculating and determining a
• the gimbals are activated to
• the pilot of the aircraft defines an
• on-gimbals array for capturing images of each of said scanned portions.
• the gimbals comprise two gimbals mechanisms, an external gimbals
• the external gimbals mechanism is used for coarse directing the on-
• gimbals array to the center of a selected area portion.
• the external gimbals mechanism has two degrees of freedom
• the internal gimbals mechanism is used for fine directing the on-
• gimbals array to the center of a selected area portion, particularly for
• the internal gimbals mechanism has two degrees of freedom, yaw
• the external gimbals mechanism is slaved to the internal gimbals
• the arrays of light sensors are sensitive to light in the range of
• the arrays are focal plane arrays.
• the predefined axes system is a global axes system.
• the system of the invention is assembled
• system of the invention is
• the gimbals are located at the front of the pod, behind a transparent
• system further comprising a back-
• the integration period an opposite direction movement with respect to said row
• the invention further relates to a method for carrying out airborne
• step e rate the calculation of step e with updated array x a : y a : z a coordinates
• the selection of x p : y p coordinates of a new area portion is
• the overlap assurance is obtained by a trial and error selection
• At least some of the sensors of the Inertial Navigation System are configured to be a single sensor of the Inertial Navigation System.
• At least some of the light sensitive sensors are positioned on the
• the Inertial Navigation System comprises a dedicated Inertial
• the invention further relates to a method for providing motion compensation
• step e repeating at a high rate the calculation of step e with
• the invention further relates to a method for carrying out airborne targeting,
• step e Given the calculation of step e, directing accordingly the center of the weapon
• the motion compensation of the targeting can be made in any conventional
• the reconnaissance system is assembled as a payload into the aircraft
• Fig. 2 shows the mechanical structure of a gimbals system according to
• FIG. 3A shows an area of interest divides into a plurality of area portions
• FIG. 3B illustrates several staring modes which are possible by the system
• Fig. 5 is a flow diagram describing the operation principles of the
• Fig. 7 shows how a stereoscopic image is constructed by the system of the
• FIG. 8 illustrates a specific case in which a system of the prior art is
• FIG. 10 illustrates the use of a back-scanning mirror in accordance with
• FIG. 11 is a perspective illustration of a hilly terrain, and its division into
• - Fig. 11A shows an upper view of the terrain of Fig. 11, and the manner of
• Fig. 12 is an example illustrating how the system of the present invention can photograph selective targets, thereby significantly reducing the amount of data handled;
• the one or more focal plan arrays that are used to sense and capture
• gimbals having at least two degrees of freedom.
• optical such as one including mirrors, prisms, etc.
• arrays may sense in the visual range, and another may sense, for
• the sensors are mounted off the gimbals.
• the reconnaissance system uses an Inertial Navigational System (INS)
• INS Inertial Navigational System
• two INS systems are used: the first one is the main INS of
• the second INS is an internal, dedicated INS of the
• the reconnaissance system mounted in the reconnaissance system.
• the reconnaissance system mounted in the reconnaissance system.
• the preferred mounting of the system INS is on the gimbals
• the gimbals having at least two degrees of freedom, on which the arrays
• the system of the invention captures by its arrays, when activated, a
• Track scanning type relate to the accumulated data of a specific leg as an
• the accumulated data is essentially stored as one
• the reconnaissance system of the present invention is particularly adapted to
• the system is assembled within a
• Fig. 1 shows the general structure of a reconnaissance system, assembled
• the pod 1 is a pod that is a pod that is a pod that is a pod that is a pod that is a pod that is a pod that is a pod that is a pod that is a pod that is a pod that is a pod that is a pod that is a pod that is a pod that is a pod that is a pod that is a pod that is a pod that is a pod that is a pod that is a pod.
• the said gimbals and optics are
• more arrays may be included, for example, an IR
• arrays when used, as well as the INS, are positioned on the same portion of the
• the sensors and/or INS are arranged in a less preferred embodiment.
• the gimbals may be located behind the gimbals, while the gimbals carry a set of mirrors
• the system furthermore, and/or prisms that folds the LOS towards the sensors.
• IHU Image Handling Unit
• SSR State Recorder
• the system further comprises a Servo Unit (SU)
• DL Data Link 16
• the pod is attached
• Fig. 1A shows another embodiment of the invention. In this configuration the
• reconnaissance system is assembled as a payload into the aircraft body.
• Forward Section is positioned vertically and is pointing down, with only its
• Fig. 2 shows the mechanical structure of the gimbals system 20, according to a
• gimbals system according to the present invention has at least two degrees of
• gimbals system 20 comprises two sub-mechanisms, as follows:
• the Pitch and the Elevation degrees of freedom relate essentially to a rotation
• external gimbals mechanism 37 is preferably slaved to the internal gimbals
• the external gimbals mechanism is particularly used for coarse tracking, for
• the internal gimbal mechanism is particularly used for providing motion and orientation compensation, while capturing an image of
• FOR is achieved by the ability of the external elevation gimbals to look
• the one or more arrays of sensors together with their associated optics,
• the gimbals system directs the center of array 24 towards center 29 of area
• LOS 'line of sight
• sensors' optics may be either separate optics for each sensor, or shared optics
• Shared optics collects light in a multi-spectral range
• Inertial Navigation Systems are well known in the art, and are widely used in
• Inertial Navigation System comprises essentially two separate units (i.e.
• a Navigational Unit for determining the location coordinates of the
• an Inertial Unit for determining, among
• the INS may also provide the velocity and acceleration vectors of the aircraft or airborne-system.
• Navigational System may use, for example, GPS information, and the Inertial
• Unit generally uses inertial sensors within the aircraft or airborne-system.
• a less accurate INS in an airborne system is communicating with a
• system may have various modes of operation, deriving from its capability to
• the LOS directions may be side-oblique, forward-oblique,
• path trajectory follows the actual aircraft flight path.
• Strip Mode A linear strip positioned along the flight path, or at an angle to
• entrance observation angle may be any angle (i.e. start capturing well before
• observation angle may be any angle (i.e. stop capturing well after leaving).
• the reconnaissance system may linger more time on the selected
• the reconnaissance system may work at either automatic mode or
• for the system may contain any combination of path, strip, spot, and staring
• the system automatically configures the
• the planning of the mission is done in advance at
• the operator can manually change the mission plan during flight.
• the operator may interrupt an automatic operation and perform
• an area of interest is divided into a matrix of a plurality of area
• area 100 which is defined by points A, B, C, and D, is
• Area 100 indicates the portion row within the matrix area. Area 100 may assume any combination
• area matrix is defined in such a manner that area portions partially overlap one
• the reconnaissance system scan the area matrix 100 in a sequential
• the light-sensitive array to a specific area portion, generally by directing the
• the "snap shooting" involves two stages, a light
• DL Data Link
• Fig. 4 is a block diagram illustrating the operation of the reconnaissance system
• the operation of the system involves three main phases.
• the line of sight of the array is directed towards a first phase.
• the array is "exposed" to light
• Elevation Map 310 of an area which includes within it at least the area of
• the x-y coordinates (with respect to a global or predefined
• selection block 311 selects an area portion. More particularly, the portion
• selection block 311 sequentially indicates a nodal point being a center of a
• direction module 306 geometrically calculates the gimbal angles required for
• the gimbals servo unit 308 receives a signal
• the servo unit conveys a signal 321 to the Integration/Sampling
• the Integration/Sampling unit 304 for initiating the integration period.
• motion compensation is repeatedly calculated by the motion compensation
• the motion compensation module 307 in similarity to the area
• portion direction module 306 also receives from the DEM the (x : y p : z )
• Motion compensation for image roll around the LOS may also be done, by using
• the portion selection block 311 selects a center of a next area
• the portion selection block 311 operates.
• the portion selection block 311 selects which the portion selection block 311 operates.
• selection block 311 first selects a center of a first area portion and obtains its
• the pilot marks the center of a portion, and the image of that
• Each footprint is a 3-dimensional plane, or a higher order surface, tilted in two directions in order to best fit the ground's gradients.
• the direction of the LOS center is modified in order to ensure an overlap within
• the calculation may also be done analytically
• photographed strip is continuously calculated to ensure maximum strip width
• a targeting system to a target, a targeting system being a system enabling
• said targeting systems also use navigational and orientation data from an
• the present invention uses a gimbals system similar to the one used in said
• the invention uses a combination of the INS and gimbals system having at least one of the INS and gimbals system having at least one of the INS and gimbals system having at least one of the INS and gimbals system having at least one of the INS and gimbals system having at least one of the INS and gimbals system having at least one of the INS and gimbals system having at least one of the INS and gimbals system having at
• Fig. 5 is a flow diagram describing the operation principles of the
• first portion of the area of interest to be imaged is determined automatically.
• the first portion may
• portions are determined in real time, in order to satisfy some predefined range
• this procedure involves using the DEM 310.
• the center coordinates x l ;y l of the first selected portion is provided
• the Servo control unit 305 which also
• step 504 also calculates in step 503 the angles and signals
• gimbals servo unit which establishes the desired LOS direction in step 505.
• step 506 a check is made to determine whether the establishment of the proper
• the preferable case has its inertial sensors on the gimbals.
• step 508 may also terminate (step 510).
• step 512 all the array sensors are sampled at the same time (in a snap-shot
• step 515 a next area portion (step 515), which are conveyed to the DEM to obtain the
• next area portion may either be
• a predefined overlap range for example between 10%-20% overlap.
• the portion center is positioned slightly closer to the center of the
• the system may
• the scanning may also be performed in any other, predefined (or not)
• ELM Digital Elevation Map
• the DEM of the area of interest is loaded into the airborne system before the
• FMC Motion Compensation
• MC Motion Compensation
• Fig. 9 exemplifies the
• the aircraft 750 therefore assumes some fixed, ground level 756,
• the aircraft 750 the aircraft 750
• mountain 757 is at 1/2 range (i.e. 5km), and altitude of aircraft is 5km.
• the angular velocity of the LOS is approximately 12.5milirad s
• the pixel smear is much smaller, as
• smear i.e., a smear of less than 5% of a pixel.
• Fig. 7 shows how a stereoscopic image can be
• image of an area or object can be constructed by using two images, each
• the aircraft sequentially captures the portion images 201, 202,
• the invention provides an
• the stereoscopic effect may be obtained, for example, by displaying the two
• the display using polarizing glasses, directing one image to the left eye and the
• the INS 303 of Fig. 4 comprises two
• the first INS is the aircraft main INS

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• 2002
  • 2002-05-30 IL IL149934A patent/IL149934A/en active IP Right Grant
• 2003
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